Monza Rally: Robert Kubica beats Valentino Rossi to victory

Kubica was driving the same Ford Fiesta RS WRC, run by Italian team A Style, that he had used to win national event the Rally of Casentino earlier this year.

Monza was a straight fight from the outset between event debutant Kubica and three-time winner Valentino Rossi, also driving a Fiesta.

In mixed conditions, Kubica opened up a small advantage on the two stages of the opening evening, but the Pole fell behind during Saturday, not helped by a tyre choice that he felt was too hard.

Having started the final day seven seconds behind Rossi, he won both of Sunday's stages - the final one by 17s - to put the result beyond doubt.

"Getting the tyre choice right was one of the biggest challenges," said Kubica, who was partnered by Italian co-driver Alessandra Benedetti.

"Because the conditions were changing all the time and never the same on different parts of the track, it was often hard to know what to do.

"On the final stage we were on the same tyres as Valentino and I saw at our first split that we were already quite a bit faster than him, for some reason he was slower than he had been before.

"So I knew that if we could keep going at the same pace we had a very good chance to win."

Other stars taking part in the Monza-based event included Gymkhana ace Ken Block, who was classified 29th after losing time with a navigational error.

That was four places ahead of 2004 NASCAR Cup champion Kurt Busch, as the American made his rally debut.

Another driver to drop places after completing an extra loop was factory Audi Le Mans racer Marco Bonanomi, who was driving an ex-Marcus Gronholm Ford Focus WRC.

Former Mitsubishi factory World Rally Championship driver Gigi Galli returned to rallying after his World Rallycross appearance earlier this year and finished ninth in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Galli was co-driven by 17-year-old Italian Tamara Molinaro, a Red Bull protege who is currently on a learning programme with the energy drink giant.

The Masters Show - a standalone event run over a single stage at the end of the rally - was also won by Kubica from Rossi, in heavy rain.